I'm an Economist and Former Congressional campaign strategist and Ex-GM of Wu Tang Management. As CEO of AfricaPrebrief – I guide US-based investors in African economies. I write in memory of Jude Wanniski (polyconomics.com)

The NSA and Obama Are Losing Germany, Risking Cultural Hegemony And A Trade War

BERLIN, GERMANY - JULY 27: A participant demonstrates in support of former NSA employee Edward Snowden at a protest march against the electonic surveillance tactics of the NSA on July 27, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. The NSA scandal has been especially contentious in Germany after media reports claimed the NSA had conducted wide scale gathering of electonic data, including e-mails, of German citizens. Activists are demonstrating against the NSA in cities across Germany today. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Most Americans not steeped in the history of the Cold War or those who have not had the opportunity to live in Europe are probably underestimating how damaging reports of a massive U.S. spying operation in Europe are, especially in Germany. To all such persons I recommend a quick viewing of the movie The Lives Of Others which won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the ESPN Nine For IX film, “The Diplomat” - both of which, from different perspectives, describe the delicate psyche of the German people toward domestic and foreign espionage.

But there is more to consider.

If allegations that President Obama lied to Angela Merkel about his knowledge of US spying on her personal phone are true, he has risked a diminishing of the reverential standing of America – gained through culture – which has remained, as the U.S. military presence on the continent fades.

When I was growing up in West Germany, there was constant and significant European resistance to American Army posts and Air Force bases for instance ( I lived through the kidnapping of General James Dozier and constant bomb drills at my elementary school) butnever American culture – typified by its art and technology. The same Germans who could vehemently disagree with their American friends on foreign policy would express fascination and obsession with John Wayne, cigarettes, ice cream, blue jeans and the latest electronic gadgets.

This cultural hegemony always allowed America a pass for its political missteps and this was visible yet again, in the rise of President Obama – an undeniably cultural phenomenon in the eyes of a Europe struggling with a colonial past with racial overtones and who saw the young new leader of America as a product of U.S. pop culture as much as an extension of its politics. The buzz over President Obama’s July 2008 speech in Berlin is a testament to that. We were all poised for a reset after President George W. Bush.

While no serious political observer takes Chancellor Merkel’s assertion last week, “spying between friends, that’s just not done,” seriously, that notion is widely held by electorates throughout the world, in a cultural context. The concept of ‘friendship’ is colloquial while ‘allies’ is much more geopolitical in nature. There is a kith and kinship that the German people feel toward Americans, through culture which is now being damaged. This is no longer the fun and games of high-flying intelligence agencies.

The technology which has brought them and the world closer to America is now becoming the medium for a loss of privacy reminiscent of what they endured when the Soviet Union and United States used West and East Germany as proxies in their war games with one another. This time though the ‘Evil Empire’ is America. As Deutsche Well reported, “After reports came out that the NSA allegedly also has access to users’ smartphone data, the opposition seized the chance tofocus attention on the issue. ‘If technology makes it possible, it’s apparently being done,’said Thomas Oppermann, the SPD’s secretary in parliament. ‘That’s why it’s all the more important that the federal government takes a stand and defends German citizens’ fundamental rights.’Steffen Bockhahn ofthe Left party agrees, saying, ‘The German government must finally deliver straight talk to the US government. Something like this must not and cannot be.’”

The sentiment I encountered while an Army Brat and in years of subsequent conversation with German friends and acquaintances, as well as active duty members and dependents, is that Germans have always felt vulnerable and exploited by the American presence and penetration of their country, typified by the military base. This is at the root of Ms. Merkel’s comment last week that U.S.-Germany relations were not a ‘one-way street’. But until now, Germans have not expressed consensus that they needed to protect themselves from a transcendent American influence.

German secret service expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom articulated this well in a recent interview which asked, “Is Germany able to protect itself against the NSA spying?” He responded, “Only through binding international treaties with the United States, which exclude mutual spying in the political and economic arenas. Something like this was already tried in 2010, between France and the US. At the time, the French foreign intelligence service and the CIA had negotiated an agreement, which only failed after personal resistance from President Obama. This proves, however, that it is politically possible.” The headline of the article featuring Mr. Schmidt-Eenboom? “We Can’t Defend Ourselves From The NSA.”

The reference to German emulation of tactics embraced by a much more obviously anti-American France is striking. The idea of tying together international treaties with the spy issue is likely to spread – with everything from NATO membership to economic policies on the table.

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